A Moment with
A MOMENT WITH
DR. LORNA FINMAN
T
here has been a lot of talk
about how to get students
involved
in
Science,
Technology,
Engineering
and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.
One person who is at the forefront of
ensuring that this happens is Dr Lorna
Finman. Lorna and her team at STEM
Revolution have been leading the
charge of getting all students; male
and female enthused about STEM.
Lorna is now bringing her successful
programme STEM Revolution to
the Middle East and Teach Middle
East Magazine caught up with her
to find out more about what keeps
her motivated in promoting STEM in
schools across the United States of
America and even further afield.
Lorna was born in Edinburgh Scotland,
she immigrated to Canada and then
moved to USA, after completing her
PhD in Physics, at Stanford University.
She is the CEO of an Engineering
Technology
Company
whose
innovations have saved thousands
of lives and she is also the CEO of
STEM Revolution. Lorna is a founding
board member of STEM School in the
U.S. She is the mother of three sons
who are all successful entrepreneurs
in; software, augmented reality and
block chain technology, which have
been featured worldwide.
How did you become involved in
the sciences particularly physics?
Since I was young, I was fascinated
by Mars and read everything I could
find on the subject. I always wanted
to go into space and I planned my
career to meet that goal. I became
a pilot, already interested in science
and eventually became an astronaut
candidate. My PhD Thesis was a
Gamma Ray Telescope that flew
successfully on the Space Shuttle
and a piece of the hardware is on
display at the Smithsonian Museum in
Washington DC.
What inspires you most?
Innovation and the ability to draw
the potential from both students and
teachers to innovate and create.
40 |
Mar - Apr 2018
|
|
We built a new model of a STEM
School in a low income rural area to
see if we could take these students
to globally competitive levels. These
are families who were not preparing
the students for college or careers.
We applied our STEM methodology
to both teaching and learning and
the success was even beyond our
own expectations. We had a grade
4 student develop an innovative App
for disabled people that came to the
attention of the CEO of Apple, who
with others have funded the App. We
have high school students competing
with MIT, Jet Propulsion Lab and
others, to win a competitive grant to
launch a small satellite. That satellite
is to do STEM outreach around the
world and invites other schools to
join with them. The students wanted
a satellite, young people could
participate in-to tweet messages,
receive bitcoins from space and they
even have Taylor Swift agreeing to
put her music in their time capsule.
Seeing young people so engaged
and letting them find their full
potential and seeing teachers engage
and enjoy teaching this way, are what
inspire me. Students now have more
opportunities, society benefits from
their innovations and the region will
economically prosper - it’s a win for
everyone.
Not only did those students develop
21st century skills (and liked doing
it) – we did not teach to any test and
the school test results are now the
top in the state and their SAT scores
exceed the US national average – if
you teach students to think – they do
well naturally.
Share two major challenges that
you faced (this can be personal
or professional). How did you
overcome them?
1. Before starting the STEM School
– I wanted to do a Science Centre
that was non-traditional – that
incorporated high school students
doing research and development
with mentors, which also had a
start-up incubator. I faced a lot
of opposition from neighbours
not wanting a science centre in
After The Bell
their neighbourhood and the cost
of infrastructure started to go
over our budget. I was impatient
and frustrated at the lack of
progress, so I decided to retrofit
an articulated bus and make it
into a mobile STEM bus. We were
funded by corporate sponsors
and that bus visits 100 schools
per year and over 40,000 students
and teachers, exciting them
about STEM and providing free
resources. It can reach schools
outside the cities who may not get
the same opportunities. It ended
up being more effective than a
fixed building. We are in our 5th
year operating the STEM Bus in
the US. The design of the STEM
Bus was to make it high learning,
while fun and cool and the college
staff that operates it, became
“rockstars” and role models to the
young people with the high energy
assembly and hands on exhibits
we designed.
2. The bus was our Phase 1. I wanted
to do more and have students
have more hands-on project based
learning “I can do it” attitude, So I
started a STEM school, in the US,
designed from the ground up.
We were not given any support
from the government or funding
to build the school. We had a
mission and a purpose, and we
were determined to try this model.
Each week we faced financial
challenges that would have shut
us down, whether it was funding
being gone, regulations stopping
us, unexpected fees, or other
schools not wanting competition,
it was difficult to make it through
and get the doors open. However,
our team problem solved, every
step of the way and supported
each other and kept going.
We applied perseverance and
problem solving, two things we
want our students to also learn.
What do you hope to achieve in the
region with STEM Revolution?
The mission of STEM Revolution